OKC Thunder: 3 players who benefit most from Al Horford’s mentorship

Last week, news broke that the OKC Thunder were shutting down veteran big man Al Horford for the rest of the season as the franchise steers more into their desired youth movement.

Despite this relatively shocking move, considering how much time is left in the season, the 34-year-old center will not hold any ill-will towards the franchise and, according to OKC General Manager, Sam Presti, will continue to be a part of the team moving forward through the rest of the year:

"“Our conversations have been open and ongoing about how to maximize this season for him personally as well as the development of our team. Al has been nothing short of spectacular and will remain a part of the team as we build on an approach and mentality that we have taken for some time.”"

Al Horford’s mentorship on the sidelines could still be huge for the OKC Thunder

Through 28 games played this season, the 14-year-veteran put up averages of 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 38 percent shooting from deep.

With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also expected to miss considerable time, Horford’s on-court production will certainly be missed, but perhaps his presence on the sideline could be of some great service to the rest of his teammates as they attempt to simply stay afloat during these trying times.

Today, we present to you 3 players in specific we believe could benefit the most from having a guy like Horford mentoring them from the pine:

OKC Thunder player No. 1) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

At just 22-years-old, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finds himself serving as “the guy” on a team that, during their 13-year existence, has seen a substantial amount of success.

Having the distinction of being the leader of the OKC Thunder groups you into the same category as sure-fire Hall of Fame players such as Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and, yes, we’ll throw Chris Paul into the mix for his contributions during his “blink and you’ll miss it” 2019-20 run.

So far, SGA has not seemed to shy away from such a title, for in his first season serving in the role he’s posted All-Star deserving numbers of 23.7 points, 5.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and just shy of a steal per game on 51 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent shooting from deep.

That said, being Oklahoma City’s franchise player, one has to be able to not only walk the walk but talk the talk as well. In layman’s terms, Gilgeous-Alexander needs to try and develop as good of verbal leadership skills as he does in-game skills.

Horford, what with his undisputed team-first mentality and proven track record of being a beloved teammate both on the floor and in the locker room, could be a great guy to learn from and talk to while Shai finds himself in street clothes for the time being.